Combier Liqueur d'Orange

The Combier story began nearly 175 years ago at 48 Rue Beaurepaire in the picturesque village of Saumur, 200 miles southwest of Paris in the heart of France’s historic Loire Valley.

Jean-Baptiste Combier and his wife, local confectioners by trade and operators out of their own kitchen, shared the dream of inventing something new, something that had never before existed, something with just the right spice, just the right smell and just the right taste – a flavor that was truly an original.

After years of preparation, practice, failure and discovery, time during which patience became the most tested skill of all, Jean-Baptiste’s quest ended with the perfect concoction in 1834: sweet and bitter orange peels from the West Indies, local spices from the South, alcohol from the North, and family-secret ingredients from the Loire Valley – a formula that became the world’s first triple sec: Combier Liqueur d’Orange.

Combier Liqueur d'Orange is prepared in the distillery's inner room surrounded by the age and warmth of century old copper stills and the intoxicating scent of fruits and berries from the surrounding Loire Valley. It is here where the magic begins.

In line with Combier family tradition, the Master Distiller carefully marries the fragrant orange peels with sugar beets delivered straight from the fields of Normandy along with pure alcohol from outside of Paris.

From there the Master Distiller uses a triple-distillation process- hence the term ‘triple-sec’- whereby the ingredients are three times distilled in the very same century-old copper stills first used by the Combier family. The copper and age of the stills add depth, while the triple-distillation process ensures that only the most pure and aromatic liqueur makes it into each bottle. Hence its crystal clear color.

Each bottle of Combier is produced, packaged, and shipped from the same location since the 19th century.